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Petra

#1,372 in 2025Girls' name

Stone

Petra has been given to 14,626 babies in the U.S. since 1881. In 2025 it ranked #1,372 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1927, with 197 recorded.

Babies named Petra, 2025

1 in 20,600

Petra over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Petra: meaning, origin, and history

Stone

Ancient Greek

What Petra means

Petra means “stone”, associated with petra.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

A feminine form of Peter, identical with Late Latin petra (“stone”); came into regular use in the 19th century.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Petra (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Petra is used in English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Faroese, Finnish, German and Hungarian and additional language sections. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Peter and Petrus.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Petra is pronounced /ˈpɛtɹə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 14,559 girls were recorded with the name Petra between 1881 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 197 in 1927; its best national rank was #435 in 1894.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,278 in 2020 to #1,372 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,351 in 2015 to #1,372 in 2025.

In the United States, 67 boys were recorded with the name Petra between 1918 and 1991. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1927; its best national rank was #3,376 in 1927.

How common is Petra?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 20,600
161 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 9,980
0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,372
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
14,274 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Petra sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 14,274 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Petra. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Petras were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Petra was born before 1962 — so the typical Petra is around 63 today.

Median birth year
1962
About 63 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
12.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
22.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
8,592
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 12.3% of all recorded uses (1,791).

Is Petra rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+118
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−94
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−21
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.91×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
81.7%
Peak was 1927 (197)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#435
1894

Spellings of Petra

Petra is not the most common spelling — Debra is, with 47.0% against Petra's 1.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Petra is used

Across 2016–2025, Petra was most concentrated in Washington — about 1 in 3,846 girls, against 1 in 11,265 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

226 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Washington1 in 3,846
  2. 2Oregon1 in 4,762
  3. 3District of Columbia1 in 5,556
  4. 4Colorado1 in 5,882
  5. 5Illinois1 in 7,692
  6. 6California1 in 9,091
  7. 7Massachusetts1 in 9,091
  8. 8New York1 in 9,091

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Petra around the world

Where Petra ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #2,138
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1975–2023
    #749
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    1964–2023
    #625
    in 2023
  • France
    1906–2025
    #2,434
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #118
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #870
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1946–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Petra

People whose public names include Petra, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Petra in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Petra. Linked forms have their own page here.

Pietra

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Petra by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,372
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 94
Best rank ever
#435
1894
Peak year
1927
197 that year
First recorded
1881
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
14,559
Count in 2025
161

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,376
1927
Peak year
1927
8 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
1991
All-time count
67
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Petra

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

PeterDemetraAstraAnitraMitraDetraPetrinaPetronaElectraDimitraElektraPatraDemitraDeitraCleopatraDietraPetulaPeteDeatraKetraChaitraAnetraPetinaNetra

Names with a curve like Petra

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Petra, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

EsterMillicentJosefinaAdelaEloisaLeonorManuelaFranciscaZenobiaMatildeRafaelaCorrine

Sibling names for Petra

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Petra

Top names of 1927, Petra's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1894Girls' names starting with PPeter Variations & NicknamesShort German Girl NamesUncommon Czech Girl Names